Top tips on cooking steak

Swot up on the best way to cook a decent steak.

If you love a big hunk of steak on your plate, but don’t know quite how to prepare it, use these key tips from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).

Scotch beef is produced by farmers with generations of livestock production expertise, which they combine with high welfare considerations and the most modern techniques of animal husbandry. The farmers’ cattle graze amidst a clean and un-polluted environment, ranging from coastal pastures to the high, grassy slopes of mountains and their river valleys. Scotch beef is also policed by a fully integrated assurance programme, which guarantees high quality and welfare standards, and is fully traceable from pasture to plate.

1. Always ask the butcher where the beef you are buying is from. All good butchers will be able to give you comprehensive details on the type of breed, the farm, the producer and the environment in which the cattle have been reared. Alternatively look for assurance schemes or marks such as PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) on packaging as these guarantee quality.

2. Marbling is key to flavour – small streaks of fat will ensure that your steak is succulent and juicy.

3. Although meat colour varies, try and look for meat that is plum red. A shadow of grey around the outside of your meat is a mark of ageing.

4. Remove your steak from the fridge ten minutes prior to cooking.

5. Always pat the steak dry with kitchen towel before placing it in a very hot pan.

6. If you wish to use salt and pepper, only do so one minute before you start cooking.

7. Unless you are cooking a very lean cut, do not use any grease or oil in the pan as it will taint the taste of your meat. The fat present in steak should be sufficient.

8. After you have cooked your steak, add a little butter to the pan and deglaze. This is one of the simplest but most delicious ways of enjoying a genuinely fine steak.

For more information, visit: http://www.scotchbeefandlamb.com.